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https://www.ch-aviation.com/portal/news ... early-4q19Virgin Atlantic to end A340 ops in early 4Q19
https://www.flightglobal.com/news/artic ... a3-461002/20 September, 2019
Virgin Atlantic has pushed back the retirement date for its Airbus A340-600 fleet
after an engine failure suffered by a Norwegian Boeing 787-8
temporarily affected the availability of Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 powerplants.
The UK operator was due to retire its A340 fleet at the end of October 2019,
but "we're keeping them for about two months longer",
the carrier's executive vice-president of operations Philip Meher told.
That decision was prompted by
a "minor issue with the supply of engines from Rolls-Royce towards the back end of this year".
A Norwegian Boeing 787-8 suffered a serious engine failure after take-off from Rome Fiumicino airport on 10 August,
during which parts from the aircraft's left-hand Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 powerplant
were ejected over southern areas of the city.
"That caused a number of engines to come out of the pool of engines to support Norwegian,"
Meher states,
adding that "engines coming back from overhaul for us weren't available for four to five weeks".
He stresses that the A340s will only continue flying "to cover that interim period".
Virgin Atlantic has 43 aircraft in service, including 16 787-9s and five A340-600s.
https://www.ch-aviation.com/portal/news ... -into-202011.12.2019 - 20:00 UTC
Virgin Atlantic (VS, London Heathrow) will have to retain its fleet of three A340-600s into 2020,
due to the ongoing B787 engine availability problems
which have come as a result of an uncontained engine failure at Norwegian in August.
The UK carrier had initially intended to exit the four-engined aircraft from its fleet on October 26,
however, the type began appearing in the carrier's schedules again beyond this date in September.
At the end of October, the airline then moved back the type's planned retirement from December 8 to December 29,
but this date is now having to be pushed back even further.
In the past week,
the airline has continued to use the three A340-600s on routes from
London Heathrow to New York JFK, New York Newark, Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson, and Lagos, as well as from London Gatwick to Bridgetown.
The type is also planned to operate flights from Manchester Int'l to Atlanta on December 14, 21 and 22.
Virgin Atlantic currently operates 46 aircraft,
including seventeen B787-9s and the three A340-600s,
as well as seven B747-400s,
five A350-1000s, four A330-200s, and ten A330-300s.
Virgin Atlantic during the weekend of 14DEC19’s schedule update
adjusted planned Airbus A340-600 schedule for winter 2019/20 season, now listed until 31JAN20, instead of 08JAN20.
Previously reported on Airlineroute,
the airline already filed A340 schedule in summer season,
from 29MAR20 to 31JUL20.
With this latest update, the airline’s A340 schedule is pending, between 01FEB20 and 28MAR20.
https://www.ch-aviation.com/portal/news ... o-covid-19Virgin Atlantic accelerates A340 phase-out due to COVID-19
11.03.2020 - 07:28 UTC
Virgin Atlantic (VS, London Heathrow) ended A340-600 operations on March 8, 2020,
as the quadjets have proven surplus to demand during the current COVID-19-induced slump.
Flightradar24 ADS-B data indicates that G-VFIT (msn 753)
operated its last revenue flight on March 8 as VS412 from Lagos to London Heathrow
and was ferried to London Gatwick the day after.
G-VWIN (msn 756) departed from Bridgetown on March 7 as VS58 and landed at Gatwick the next morning.
Both aircraft have remained parked at the airport since March 8-9.
In early March, Virgin Atlantic announced that the retirement of the quadjets would be one of the measures taken in response to the epidemic.
The UK carrier had initially planned to phase out its A340s at the end of the Summer 2019 season in October 2019.
However, it later adjusted that plan due to ongoing Rolls-Royce Trent engine issues affecting its B787-9s.
While no specific date was then given,
Virgin Atlantic said it would continue operating the A340s "through 2020".
Following the retirement of the A340s,
Virgin Atlantic's fleet includes
two A330-200s, eight A330-300s, five A350-1000s, seven B747-400s, and seventeen B787-9s.
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